By AMLi Correspondent
A BRITISH teenager has admitted money laundering relating to a “sophisticated cyber fraud” which led police to seize more than €2.535M (£2.141M) of cryptocurrency.
The boy (17), who cannot be named for legal reasons, used it to dupe users of a digital gift voucher site into entering their personal details.
He stole €7,698 (£6,500) worth of vouchers and used the proceeds to buy Bitcoins, Lincoln Crown Court heard.
The teenager, from south Lincolnshire, used the proceeds to buy Bitcoins and other cryptocurrency, which subsequently soared in value, the court was told.
“At the time they were worth £200,000. They are now worth a little over £2 million,” the prosecutor told the court.
Following his arrest in August 2020, police found 48 Bitcoins and a smaller number of other coins.
Prosecutor Sam Skinner told how the teenager set up the fake website from his bedroom in April 2020.
This site was practically identical to an official site – Love2Shop – which sells gift vouchers, the court heard.
The teenager advertised on Google allowing the bogus site to appear above the genuine site.
Mr Skinner told the court: “People were duped into clicking on his website thinking they were accessing the official site.”
The boy took the site down after a week just as Love2Shop began investigating him following complaints.
The subsequent police investigation also found over 12,000 credit card numbers stored on the boy’s computer and details of 197 PayPal accounts, he told the court.
The teenager, who is now studying A-levels, admitted charges of money laundering between 9 and 16 April 2020 and fraud totalling £6,539 by false representation.
Judge Catarina Sjolin Knight ruled that he benefited from his crimes by £2,141,720 and ordered that amount to be confiscated from his assets.
“If he was an adult he would be going inside,” she said.
The teenager was handed a 12-month rehabilitation order.
She told the defendant: “You have a long-standing interest in computers. Unfortunately, you used your skills to commit a sophisticated fraud.”
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